Rwby Und Panzer
by Jin Rummy
Summary: Ruby Rose was heralded as one of the best commanders in the history of Senshado;however following a tragic event that left her disillusioned with the art of Tankery Ruby has now transferred to Beacon Academy in hopes of getting as far away from Senshado as possible. Like any good commander knows a plan never survives first contact with the enemy, something Ruby knows quite vividly.


Chapter One: The Day The World Stood Still

On a small hillside overlooking a moonlit valley, stood a girl who observed a column of armored behemoths with a pair of mirthful silver eyes; as they kicked up large plumes of dust while they made their way across the dirty crater marked field below. "I count… four Shermans and one Firefly advancing towards the other end of the forest… No sign of the other tanks though," the girl stopped to brush a stray lock of black and red hair out of her eyes. "Standard wedge formation… excellent station keeping… nothing we haven't gone up against before."

A burst of static heralded the voice of Penny Polendina, her radio operator. "That's excellent news friend Ruby, and here is some better news, Ursa team just reported in they said they were in position."

Ruby stood up, and dusted herself off before speaking into her radio. "Okay then let's move out… radio ahead to boarbatusk and tell them to start harassing Haven's tanks… let's see just how angry Arslan can get before she snaps." she quickly sprinted away from the hillside towards her tank, her pride and joy, her baby, her Tiger II hidden just over the ridge from her observation point. She quickly clambered up onto the tank before dropping into the commander's cupola. "Ciel get us out of here, and remember keep the engine noise and the dust low we don't want to tip off Haven about our plan to early now." The engine of Atlas' Tiger II roared to life, and with practiced ease the tank turned and began to pull away from the opposition.

Ruby opened up on the radio "This is Beowolf to all Grimm elements we have confirmed the location of the enemy hunters. The huntresses are unaccounted for. So keep an eye out everyone we don't want any strays stumbling up on you and ruining the ambush. So if any of them see you take them out quickly we don't want any of them to report your positions. Good luck everyone and happy hunting, operation Grimm and skim begins now!"

A burst of static heralded Winter's voice on the radio which sounded much more serious and annoyed compared to Ruby's friendly and energetic instructions." Taijitu team, what do you think you are doing? Read your map you imbeciles. You're in sector 3 we need you in sector 4."

Immediately the radio crackled to life once more "Uh sorry Winter, Taijitu team correcting now."

Ruby ducked into the tank and turned towards her loader. "So are you ready for this Neon, This is officially your first engagement with another team?" Ruby smirked as Neon gave her a thumbs up.

"You bet your butt I am commander. I'll be the best damn loader you've ever had!" She adjusted her gloves, and made ready to grab a shell.

* * *

Ruby stood up in the commander's cupola as her tank rolled to stop. Her hair gently swayed in the cool night breeze as she stared vigilantly out at the ambush point. "This is Beowolf we are in position, Boarbatusk how are you guys doing? Do you have them going in the right direction?"

The radio crackled to life after what felt like hours of silence. "This is Boarbatusk reporting in, we lost the hunters about a half a mile ago, but they should still be going in the direction we want them. We're settling into position no-" The transmission suddenly cut off as a large explosion ripped through the forest.

Ruby looked on at the explosion with wide eyes as she frantically tried to make contact with Boarbatusk. "Hey, hey Boarbatusk. You guys still with us please report in, come on this isn't cool." She ducked into the tank. "Penny get a hold of the judging team right now."

A burst of static heralded the sounds of explosions and screaming as one of her tank crews reported in. "Ruby this is Creep team we know who took out Boarbatusk, and it sure as hell ain't Haven who did unless they spontaneously decided to become a bunch of murderers; because Boarbatusk is dead commander! All that's left is a flaming scrapheap. Now we're being chased by a bunch of ZBD-04 IFVs and at this rate they'll catch us if we don't do anything. We need help Ruby and we need it bad!" something about this didn't sit right with her, and she could only wonder to herself as to who would open fire on a tankery team? It wasn't Arslan she loved tankery to much to do something as horrific as this. So just who in their right mind would do something like this?

An explosion off to her right signaled her as to where Creep was located. "Ciel take us over there... Penny forget about the judging team get a hold of Winter we need to hurry up and cut them off before they can hurt anyone else!" yelled Ruby as the Tiger II began to advance towards the explosions. "All tanks converge on sector 3, and set up defensive positions. Wait for us to come back with Creep, expect some company, so have an HE shell loaded up and ready. Only aim for shots that you know you can make I don't want anyone dying because they thought they could do something fancy and show off this is life or death situation now. "

She toggled the throat mic to her tank's local channel. "Keep it steady Ciel we need to be prepared for anything… Neon get an HE shell loaded up… Flynt get ready to unleash your magi-" several streams of green tracer rounds streaked in. The rounds bounced and hammered hard into the ground around them. "Crap! Everyone this is Ruby! Button down, no one is to be outside of their tank… these guys mean business, and I refuse to let any of you die because you wanted to take a little looksy outside!" a round soared above her head, and if she were just a bit taller it would have decapitated her. She shuddered and shook her head in order to derail that morbid train of thought.

The Tiger II turned and Ruby was met with the sight of six ZBD-04 IFVs bearing down on Creep team as they fled in their Panzer 38 NA. "Creep traverse right, get them to show their backs to us; don't forget you have a working gun so fire on the move, if you're lucky you might just be able to disable one of them," she ducked into the tank. "Flynt if you can get a shot, fire at will," she returned to her position in the commander's cupola. The Tiger II rocked as Flynt fired a Senshado regulation high explosive shell into the line of enemy tanks. The round thundered through the forest; followed shortly by a massive explosion as it slammed home into one of the IFV's turret rings. Her vision was obscured by an enormous plume of dust and bark as it was hurled skyward, all that was left of the unfortunate machine was a burning wreck. Ruby shook her head and sighed as she scanned the battlefield for hostile tanks.

Tracers streaked throughout the forest as tanks exchanged fire. Ruby was forced to duck as a round from one of the IFVs soared over her head. She toggled the mic on her throat to Creeps radio channel. "Creep when we hit the next bend I want you guys to immediately turn left, and head into the treeline. When they pass by I want you to hit them from behind while the rest of us hammer them from the front," a tap on her leg prompted her to duck into the tank and look towards her radio operator. "Penny what's wrong?"

The two of them stared at each other in silence as the orange haired girl's mouth flopped open and closed as she tried to relay what she had just heard. "R-Ruby they have a 9-96A MBT...Geist is gone, and the others have scrambled. Winter just told me that it's situated in the large clearing in sector 3." tears began to trickle down her face as she let out a sorrowful wail.

Ruby flinched at the news, yet another tank under her command was gone and more of her friends were dead. She crouched down, and placed a hand on Penny's shoulder as an attempt to console her. "Don't worry Penny I'll get us out of this I won't let anyone else die." who her words were intended to reassure; Penny or herself she didn't know, but what did know was that she was going to lead all of her friends out of this mess even if she had to take drastic measures. Penny shrugged Ruby's hand off of her shoulder before she slowly dragged her arm across her eyes in a feeble attempt to dry her tears. She glanced up at Ruby with a weak mirthless smile, and with a nod of her head she returned to her duties.

Just as she was about to poke her head outside of the hatch a round struck the turret and bounced which forced her to duck back down into the Tiger. Faintly she could hear Penny mutter something to her. "Don't make promises you can't keep Ruby, you're not a liar so don't start now it's unbecoming of you." Ruby didn't offer a retort to Penny's words as she waited until the hail of cannon shifted away from the current area before she stuck her head outside of the hatch. When she was finally able to poke her head outside she was greeted by a small facet of hell itself as the forest around her burned. She watched as embers carried by the wind set a tree ablaze; followed shortly by another tree being blown to smithereens in a hail of bark and leaves as it was caught in the crossfire between Creep and one of the IFVs. Her eyes widened as she saw the metaphorical devil to her quasi hell, for in the clearing ahead was the 96A. That wasn't what shocked her though, the fact that it had its main gun pointed at them was what spurred her in motion.

She quickly toggled the mic on her throat and yelled into it. "Ciel bank left, that MBT has us in its sights… Penny get ahold of Winter for me!... Winter if you can hear me rally the others and flank around I'll keep the MBT occupied, I want you to take down the IFVs!" A round from the 96A sailed passed them just as Ciel had altered her course. Rocks and other forest detritus flew up into the air as the round struck the ground to Ruby's right. She flinched when blood began to trickle down her face as some of the debris spewed up at the tank, and slashed a cut across her cheek.

Her only response from Winter and the rest of team was the thunderous barrage of cannon fire from the treeline that slammed in her's and Creep's pursuers. "This is Beringel reporting in… one of the IFVs have been permanently disabled and another has been immobilized… goodluck Ruby."

Ruby gripped her hands in fists, and let a small mirthless smile pull at her lips. _'Thank you Winter I'll need as much luck as I can get.'_ she looked down at the battle worn hull of her Tiger II, and unclenched her hands as she stared defiantly at her opponent. _'We can't take that thing down conventionally, but what if we play dead and get them to think we're not a threat. That would mean we would have to…'_ Ruby's thought process trailed off when she caught a glimpse of Creep's gun that poked just enough out of the treeline to be visible. She quickly hailed Creep's commander on a private channel. "Creep I have an idea, we're going to immobilize that MBT, and then I want you to come over here as fast as you can and get my crew out of here do you think you can do that for me?"

Creep's confused voice could be heard over the radio. "What why in the hell would we have to pick up your crew? What the hell are you planning commander?"

Ruby only offered a terse reply before ending her connection. "It doesn't matter just please come over here and get them for me."

Ruby buttoned up her hatch, and started to issue orders to her crewmates. "Flynt I want you to aim for their tracks we don't want them coming after us; when that's done we are all going to file out and run as fast as we can towards creep so they can get us out of here. Do you all understand?" she smiled as each of her crew members nodded in affirmative. "Alright what are we waiting for Beowolf let's bring this baddie down and get out here… Flynt on my command I want you to unleash the magic." Ruby watched the 96A spin before it slowly dipped down into a small divot. "Flynt now! Open fire!" she would have jumped for joy if not for the fact that the 96A's gun was pointed right at them. "Crap, Beringel get their attention!" the sound of a Tiger I's cannon thundered from the treeline as a round smacked into the MBT's turret.

"This is Creep! Everyone hurry up and get out, that thing isn't going to be distracted for long!" shouted Creep's commander as she beat on the hull of their tank.

Ruby watched on with sorrowful eyes as her friends funneled out of the crew compartment before she loaded an HE shell into the breach and jumped into the driver's seat. "Take care of them for me Creep."

Creep's voice screeched loudly over the radio as she accelerated towards the 96A. "What the hell do you think you're doing Ruby… and just what the hell do you mean take care of them!? Oh you better get out of this alive or so help me I'll, I'l-" Ruby removed the mic from her throat and tossed it behind her. Through her viewport she watched on as the MBT lined up its shot and fired at her, the round missed as she altered her course to face the rear of the MBT. The 96A's turret swiveled and fired once again, and this time she wasn't so lucky as the round struck the Tiger II. She didn't even have the chance to flinch as the tank erupted into a massive fireball.

Ruby uncovered her head as the muted sounds of battle invaded the damaged crew compartment of her Tiger II. She lived, and the MBT thought her tank was completely disabled… her plan had worked. She would have jumped for joy if she had the energy, but it took everything she had just to groggily walk over and gently lower herself into the gunner's seat. Through dazed eyes she looked through the cracked optics of the gunner's sight, and prayed to herself that the turret would still be able to rotate. Slowly she started to crank the winch, and slowly but surely the damaged turret grinded and gnashed against the hull of the Tiger II as it turned towards the 96A. _'Alright Ruby you can do this just one shot that's all it will take.'_ Ruby breathed in deeply through her nose before letting it out through her mouth, she repeated the process a few more time before she looked through the gunner's sight and fired at the MBT's turret ring.

Bang. The Tiger II's gun roared as the HE round thundered out of the barrel of the tanks main gun, and slammed into the MBT's turret ring before it evolved into a massive explosion that enveloped the entirety of the 96A. Each second that passed by felt like an eternity for Ruby as she waited to see just what kind of affect her round had, had on the tank. The dust settled on the ruined hull of the Tiger II like a second coat of paint, and the smoke that had obscured her vision slowly cleared away. She leaned back for a moment, and smiled in content at the sight of the burning scrapheap that was once the 96A. She had done it, she cleared the way for the rest of her friends to escape.

Her head loosely tilted to the side before she fiercely jerked it up, she needed to get out of this tank and fast or else she would die just like her friends in Geist and Boarbatusk. Ruby weakly struggled to open the gunner's hatch before it was roughly flung open; her momentum carried her as her head struck the jagged edge of the hatch. Soon just like her cheek blood began to trickle down her forehead and into her eyes. The acrid smoke from the burning forest and the tank combined to make a foul smell that had Ruby gagging as she threw herself out of the crew compartment and on to the forest floor. Faintly she registered the fact that the shooting had stopped, maybe her audacious plan had shocked everyone into complacency. Behind her she could hear the low rumble of tank treads trundle closer to where she lay before it came to stop entirely as it neared the wreckage of her Tiger II.

Ruby didn't know when it started to happen, but a pair arms started to shake her. "Hey! Hey! Come on! Come on Ruby! Stay awake! Stay with us!" Finally she jerked into state of semi-consciousness when the figure wound up and slapped her hard across the face.

Ruby's eyes widened at the sight of Neon with her arm wound up to strike again, she quickly shoved the orange haired girl off of her and put her hands up defensively. "Hey! No need to hit me anymore I'm fine… for now anyway." Ruby turned and silently observed the silent war torn battlefield before she turned back to Neon with a look of confusion adorned across her face. "Why has everyone stopped shooting, I'm fairly sure we didn't disable every single one of them?"

Neon scowled as she reached up and yanked the throat mic off of her neck, she promptly stuffed the device into her commander's awaiting hand.. "I think this might answer your question."

Now it was Ruby's turn to scowl as a burst of static heralded the voice of an unknown woman. "This is Lieutenant Cinder Fall of Vale's 5th armored battalion. I order an all-stop for all armored personnel. I request the commander of the unknown party to respond. I repeat. I request the commander of the unknown party please respond."

Ruby tensed her jaw and balled her hands into fists as she replied to the mysterious lieutenant. "Why did you open fire on us! We're just kids! We were in a Senshado match not some live fire practice for you and your men! Now look at everything, ten high school girls are dead because of you, and god knows how many people you lost! All because you were an idiot!" Ruby shook in a quiet rage as her fingernails dug into her palms.

The radio crackled to life once more, and Ruby nearly flinched at the sorrow that was being projected through the woman's voice. "I- I know and I will take full responsibility for this confrontation. Would you be so kind as to point me to your location so that we can formally meet."

"Look for the large clearing in sector 3 you can't miss it especially with the smoldering remains of two tanks in the middle of it. You'll find me near a parked Panzer 38 NA." Was her curt reply.

She could hear the woman sigh on the other end of the radio. "Acknowledged we'll be there soon."

Ruby turned to walk towards the Panzer 38, but as soon as she took her first step her legs buckled beneath and she would have hit the ground if Neon hadn't caught her. "Don't worry Ruby I got you," the girl let out a small choked laugh as she guided her towards the idle tank. "What a way to start your Senshado career am I right Ruby, I haven't even got up against another school yet… and, and now some of o-our f-friends a-are d-dead." Her shoulders trembled as despondent tears slowly trickled their way down her face; her lips quivered and the dam finally broke as tears spilled over the side of her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks like a waterfall. "H-how a-are y-you n-not c-crying -R-Ruby?"

The Panzer 38 came in to view and Ruby tightened her grip on Neon's shoulder. "I want to Neon… I want to cry so badly right now… I just want to curl up into a ball and cry my eyes out… but I can't… I have to stay strong for all of you… I wouldn't be a good commander if I didn't set a good example." When the two of them neared the tank she could see Beringel, Winter's Tiger I parked next to it. Ruby winced when she saw the furious look in Winter's eyes, and before she knew it her white haired sub-commander had furiously stalked her way over to her and Neon.

Ruby opened her mouth to say something to Winter only to have it forcibly closed as Winter slapped her hard across the face before she was consequently enveloped in a tight hug from her assailant. "Don't… don't you dare do something as foolish as that again you dunce we thought we all lost you."

Ruby smiled weakly up at the white haired girl. "I know, but someone had to do it Winter and I couldn't in good conscience let one of my friends do something like that," she went to continue only to be interrupted as another 96A slowly rumbled its way into the clearing, she frowned as she turned back to her sub-commander. "Come on Winter let's just… let's just get this over with."

The two of them made their way to the idle 96A, and as they walked Ruby could see a woman who she could only assume to be the Cinder Fall that she had talked to over the radio climb out of the tank and hop down onto the forest floor below. Something about the woman infuriated Ruby, and before Winter could stop her she swiftly ran over to the woman and hit her as hard as she could in the solar plexus. "I… deserved… that…" gasped out the lieutenant as she doubled over and struggled to regain her breath. She wanted strike her again, but she had to physically restrain herself as she stepped away from the winded woman.

Ruby stared at the woman in apathy as she let Cider catch her breath. Cinder slowly stood up before she assumed a formal stance. "I know you heard it over the radio, but my name is Cinder Fall, I am the commander of the 5th armored battalion and…" the woman trailed off as she dropped to her knees. "I want to beg for your forgiveness, and I know I don't deserve any of it. I am the one in the wrong, we were informed that this area was clear and that we would be going up against drone tanks when I heard that one of my crews made contact I ordered them to fire. Now I know how foolish that decision was, so many are dead because of my mistake." A lone tear streamed down the woman's cheek as her shoulders trembled. "Which one of you is the commander.

Ruby stepped forward and locked eyes with the lieutenant. "I am… my name is Ruby Rose, and I am the commander of Atlas Academy's Senshado team; before you attacked us we were in a match with Haven's Senshado team do you know if any them were attacked?"

The woman stood up and dusted herself off. "No the only tanks that we have encountered were your tanks," Cinder looked over at the smoldering wreck of her Tiger II. "I'm sorry about your friends… none of this… none of this was supposed to happen." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Ruby. "It's okay to cry you know… you're just a kid… you don't need to act like an adult just yet… I'm sure your friends will understand."

The woman's words played themselves over in her head, and something inside of her broke as tears bled from her eyes. Ruby's shoulders trembled, and her quiet hiccups were muffled as the woman tightened her embrace and gently lowered her head into her shoulder. Her vision was distorted by the tears in her eyes as she looked up at the lieutenant. "W-why d-did i-it h-have t-to h-happen t-to t-them i-it's unf-fair t-they h-had l-loving f-families t-to g-go b-back t-to t-they d-didn't deser-erv th-this!"

Cinder whispered quietly into Ruby's ear. "Sometimes the worst things happen to the best of people Ruby, and no matter how much it hurts to see them go you must always keep moving forward," she smiled wryly. "Sort of like a tank... you must always keep advancing no matter how hard things get…even if you want to just curl up and bawl your eyes out." Cinder stood up slowly as she held onto Ruby. "Come on let's get you and your team out of here… none of you should have had to experience something like this." Cinder with Winter who followed her from behind led Ruby over to Beringel where Penny and Neon helped her up onto the side, and as if by second nature Ruby clambered up the turret and settled into the commander's cupola.

Ruby could see Cinder stare up at her, the sorrow was palpable in her eyes even from a distance. "Let's get you kids out of here… none of you should have had to go through something like this, and I'm sorry… I'm sorry that I ruined your match… I'm sorry that I put you all in this situation to begin with… I'm sorry that I destroyed your tanks… and I'm sorry that some of your friends died today… I know that no matter what I do, it will never be good enough to make any of you forgive me…but I'll do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness, and I won't stop trying to earn your forgiveness even if it takes up to the day that I die." With those words in the air Cinder lowered her head, and did an about face. Her posture was one of defeat as she returned to the idle 96A on the other side of the clearing. Ruby turned to each of her friends in order to gauge their opinion on the lieutenant, and she couldn't say she was surprised to see that many of the eyes that watched the woman's back were narrowed. Nor was she surprised to see the hands of her friends tremble with a silent rage as they clenched and unclenched their fingers, the only reaction that surprised her was her own she didn't feel angry at the woman. No she felt sorry for her.

Ruby couldn't bring herself to hate Cinder; she didn't blame the deaths of her friends on the woman. No she blamed them on herself, and if she would have been a better commander none of them would have died. She turned away from her friends, and glanced over towards the smoldering wreckage of her Tiger II. Ruby couldn't help but feel like she had lost something the moment her tank was destroyed, and for some unknown reason she felt an overwhelming sense of dread as she stood in the commander's cupola of the Tiger I. "All… all Grimm elements this is Ruby… let's… let's get out of here… I want to be as far away from this place as possible come morning. "

* * *

Ruby stared at herself in the mirror as she studied how the plaid skirt, and the brown jacket, tan vest, and white shirt combo sat on her body. She felt strange wearing something other than the all white uniform that was mandatory at all of the schools in Atlas, but she couldn't complain as long as her new school kept her as far away as possible from Senshado and anything that related to it. She frowned, and her hands trembled at the thought of her once favorite sport. She breathed in deeply through her nose, and let it through her mouth before she repeated the process three more times in order to clear her mind and derail her previous train of thought. On the desk next to her lay a pamphlet with the name Beacon Academy emblazoned across its cover. She gently picked it up, and thumbed through the pages before she stopped on the page in pamphlet that detailed all of the sports programs at Beacon, and smiled when she saw no sign of the school having a Senshado team.

She was alarmed; however, when the clock on her dresser buzzed _'Oh no I'm going to be late!'_ she flung the pamphlet onto her desk as she went to grab her backpack that sat on the ground next to it. With a final cursory glance around her new room she ran over to the door and flung it open where she quickly slammed it shut, and just as she was about to run off she remembered one important thing. She left the key to her room on her desk next to the pamphlet. As quickly she had run out she ran back in, and yanked the key off of the desk which nearly knocked over the lamp that sat on top of it in the process. Ruby ran out of the room once more, and locked her door.

When she finally made her way down the steps of her apartment building she smiled as she saw neighbors wave good morning to each other, and parents walking their child to school. Somehow she knew that she would like Beacon more than Atlas, and as she made her way onto the school grounds she couldn't help but let her smile turn into a large grin when she saw the personalities of the students that attended Beacon as they greeted one another, and discussed what they had done over the break. They were definitely a far cry from the cold and snobby students that attended Atlas Academy, and that didn't bother Ruby one bit as she made her way through the main building's doors.

* * *

 **AN: I thought I might try something new, and it resulted in this little ditty. Now I won't say it's the best thing in the world it's far from that actually, but I had a good time writing it, and I hope you viewers enjoyed the read. I am always looking for ways to improve so if you saw something that violated the laws of writing itself feel free to do a vigilante beat down on me in the comments. Though I would highly appreciate it if were constructive instead of deconstructive.**

 **Pun of the day: Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a can of soda? He was lucky it was a soft drink.**


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